Mimickers of Concussion Presentations

Concussion symptoms are inherently nonspecific for concussion and many mimicking conditions exist. The biomechanics of the injury, the athlete's past medical history, their family history, and objective clinical examination tools must be included in the initial evaluation to improve diagnostic certainty from the outset. This article discusses these influences and provides a framework for a clinically informed approach and reviews the most common mimicking conditions of concussion. When appropriate, the early identification of mimicking conditions at initial evaluation of the head injury, rather than its identification after prolonged recovery from a misdiagnosis of concussion, is the goal.